Roberts, who was more popularly known as the public address announcer for University of Memphis Tigers' basketball games at FedExForum before resigning last October, waived his right to indictment during an 11 a.m. information hearing in Oxford, and chose to enter a plea.

He pleaded guilty to one count charging him with submitting fake documents and making false statements to an area bank to get money from a $5 million loan. The loan was allegedly for a subdivision that was never built.

After the hearing, neither Roberts nor his attorney Cliff Johnsoncommented about the guilty plea.

According to evidence presented by U.S. Atty. Robert Mims at Thursday's guilty plea hearing, Roberts, through his development company RH Holdings, received a $5 million bank loan from Citizens National Bank to build and develop Cherry Hill subdivision in Southaven. Roberts co-owned the company with James M. "Jamie" Harris Jr.

According to authorities, Harris and Roberts submitted several fake invoices and made false statements to the bank to get money from the loan.

From January 2008 to July 2008, Roberts, periodically submitted a total of $443,540 in fraudulent invoices to the bank claiming that the invoices were from Neel-Schaffer, the engineering firm hired by their company to do work on the subdivision, according to the indictment.

On Jan. 16, 2008, Jan. 22, 2008 and July 30, 2008, Roberts submitted "false and fraudulent" Neel-Schaffer invoices totaling $162,616 to the bank to get money from the loan. In all he submitted 17 fake invoices.

Federal investigators said the money that totaled more than $600,000 was not used on the 49-acre Southaven subdivision.

Cherry Hill subdivision, east of Swinnea and south of Rasco Road in Southaven, remains largely unbuilt. To date, the only thing constructed on the 49-acre site is Southaven's controversial fire station that the city built through an unusual no-bid contract negotiated by Mayor Greg Davis.

On Wednesday, Harris was indicted by the federal grand jury on two counts of loan and credit application fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

He entered a not guilty plea after he was arrested and charged with the felonies. He posted a $5,000 bond and was released. A March 4 court date has been set for him in Aberdeen, Miss.

Roberts, 46, was released on his own recognizance and will be sentenced in 90 days. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 30 years in prison or five years supervised release. He also could be fined up to $1 million, and must pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee. The court may also order Roberts to make restitution.

Thursday's guilty plea, is the latest setback for Roberts, who has been a real estate broker and developer in DeSoto County for 16 years. Last year, the Mississippi Real Estate Commission suspended his broker's license for a year after finding he violated state real estate laws during a land deal with the city of Southaven.